Going online to teach children about wild animals

The practice of keeping wild and exotic animals such as lions, monkeys, tortoises and raptors is increasing through out the Middle East and North Africa. They’re being given as pets to children and kept as status symbols by adults.

Educating the public, starting with children, has become a priority for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “Nasser and Shabol,” a children’s book, uses a story about a boy and a lion cub to highlight the risks of keeping wild animals. The book, which is in Arabic and English, was published in cooperation with the Emirates Dogs Breeders Society.

Currently we are preparing to release a new animated story book titled “Tantaloo” and will be published online. “Tantaloo” teaches children about the suffering of animals when they are taken from their habitats.

Why we decided on publishing the book online is apparent. We could print 5,000 to 10,000 books or put it online with the potential of reaching hundreds of thousands of readers.

The animated story is in production and is slated to be released in 2-3 months.

Work

Elsayed’s focus as Director IFAW Middle East has been on training government officials who are responsible for implementing CITES convention agreements. In cooperation with IFAW’s Wildlife Trade Programme staff, he organizes Prevention of Illegal Wildlife Trade (...